Sunday, December 4, 2011

December 5, 2011 marks what would have been James Cleveland's 80th birthday. One can only imagine what the gospel field might have been like today had he lived until now.

Here's a few songs to check out from his 40 year recording career, including his recording debut in 1951 with the Gospelaires as pianist and vocalist, and his last composition and recording in 1990 with the LA Gospel Messengers.

I've broken the list up into different phases of his recording career so you can hear how his style of arranging changed and adapted over the years. There's a 3-6 year gap between each song, and 2-3 songs per decade with exception to the 1990s.